Dodgeball may be allowed on Seattle tennis courts after all

Dodgeball players enjoy a game at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill, despite a city order banning the games from tennis courts in this file photo from 2009 (Mike Urban / Seattlepi.com archives)

Score one for dodgeball.

For years, Seattle dodgeballers have been banned from city tennis courts, after drawing complaints from tennis players that grown men hurling rubber balls at each other on a Capitol Hill tennis court were taking up valuable net time.

When tennis players kvetched, the Parks Department initially proposed allowing dodgeball at the court twice a week. But this did not fly with the superintendent at the time, and dodgeballers were relegated to indoor gyms at Miller and Yesler community centers.

But players didn’t like being cooped up, and some dodgeball outlaws are still playing at the Cal Anderson court, the city said.

The city identified the Judkins courts in the Central District as potential sites because of their proximity to other tennis courts at Garfield Community Center, Sam Smith Park and the Amy Yee Tennis Center.

Dennis Cook, Parks’ athletic manager, said converting the courts to other uses — including dodgeball, bike polo and inline hockey — would cost $6,500. The city is planning to gather community input on the project later this summer.